Senator
Richard Gordon, alumnus of the University of the Philippines College of
Law and UP Alumni Association Most Distinguished Alumnus for 1997,
autographs a shirt of a co-alumnus who joined the Motorcade and
Kick-off activities of the UP Centennial celebration at UP Diliman.
Looking on is UP President Emerlinda Roman.
MANILA,
Philippines — Former president Joseph Estrada is prohibited from
seeking reelection under the Constitution, Senator Richard Gordon said
Thursday, laughing off news reports of Estrada’s plan to run in the
2010 polls.
“He should run just to test whether the Filipino people really wants change, or simply wants to be entertained,” he said.
Gordon
admitted that he himself has been thinking about running for the
highest position in the land. “I’m available to run for president and
I’ve been thinking about it. I am no hypocrite,” he said, noting that
since becoming mayor of Olongapo City, he had always brought the people
up the social and economic scale and not just make broken promises.
Gordon,
although affiliated with the majority in the Senate, has said that he
was not with the administration and warned the political opposition
about Estrada’s announced intention to run again for president.
“Surely, if Erap runs, that would divide the opposition, wouldn’t it?” said Gordon, referring to Estrada by his nickname.
He
said the primary issue that would be raised against Estrada as a
presidential candidate in the 2010 elections would be his record as
president, especially his conviction for plunder.
“For me, what
is important is the reaction of the Filipinos nationally to Estrada’s
candidacy. Although we pitied him when he was under detention, we
should first consider our sense of justice before our sense of pity,”
he said in Filipino.
“While we all condemn graft and corruption,
this is the first time that a president in our country who has been
sentenced [for corruption] but has not spent a single day in [state]
prison,” he said.
The possibility of Gordon and Cebu Governor
Gwendolyn Garcia running together for president and vice president,
respectively, in the 2010 election, has been raised.
Senator
Richard Gordon yesterday challenged presidential wannabes to start
public debates among themselves even if the next election would still
be held two-and- a-half years from now.
Debates will enhance the
chances of candidates with limited resources to present an alternative
platform of government, Gordon said.
Gordon, who said he is
available for the presidential race, did not name names but only
recently, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay floated his plan to join the 2010
presidential derby.
Chairman Bayani Fernando of the Metro Manila
Development Authority also dropped hints of his political plans but
said his party, Lakas, has the final word on its standard-bearer.
Gordon
said the Philippines should take a cue from the practice in the United
States where the Republican and Democratic parties start early the
process of selecting their prospective standard-bearers as what is
happening now.
“In my view, it is in the best interest of the
people for presidential aspirants to come out and engage in debates
among themselves like what they are doing in the US,” he told an
interview with newsmen.
Unless the presidential debates are
held—and as early as possible, Gordon said the surveys will again
influence the judgment of the people which, he said, is favorable to
well-funded candidates but unfair to people like him who could not
match the resources of the former.
He said that in previous
presidential elections, the candidates had the tendency to shy away
from debates especially if they were super-rich or very popular figures
from show business.
Gordon said it is through public debates
that the people will really know who are capable of providing
leadership and solving the multifarious ills of the country.
Gordon
has no qualms in presenting himself as a presidential aspirant, saying
he dreamt of being catapulated to Malacañang as early as 1992.
“I am available, but I haven’t made any announcement yet,” he said.
“I
think my options are open. At present, I am working as a senator but I
am available for the presidency because like what other people have
said, I should have run in 1992 or in 1998. But I didn’t have enough
resources or experience at that time.”
“I think having been a
mayor [of Olongapo City], having been a Constitutional Convention
delegate, having been chairman of the Subic Bay Authority, having been
a secretary of tourism promoting our country, having been governor of
the Philippine National Red Cross helping our people in all major
disasters in the country, I think I have now enough experience.”
Gordon
admitted that it would give him tremendous advantage if he will be
chosen as the standard-bearer of the ruling Lakas party or the
administration coalition.
“I am always referred to as an
administration senator. But I don’t always vote for the administration.
I have been critical of the pardon for [former President] Erap
[Estrada]. And I’m not with Erap either.”
